Auckland student Rachita Castelino (15) is one of just six young people from around the world to be selected in an international photographic competition.

The competition, run by the UN Children’s Fund and the World Photography Organization, marked the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The judging panel was impressed by the enthusiastic response from young photographers around the world.

Rachita, who attends Baradene College in Auckland, was selected for her photograph “Selling for Survival”, showing a young boy on the streets of Mumbai attempting to trade whatever he has but is seemingly unnoticed by passersby.

Entrants were also invited to submit a photo-pledge highlighting one of five fundamental children’s rights: the right to survival; the right to education; the right to health; the right to protection from harm, abuse and exploitation; and the right to be heard.

Due to travel disruptions from Iceland’s volcano Rachita was unable to travel to the awards ceremony in Cannes, but she will attend a UNICEF workshop in Ethiopia with world-renowned photographers later this year. The workshop aims to teach children photography techniques, and provide them with a fun and compelling tool with which to capture images of their lives.

“I’m very excited to travel to Ethiopia to develop my photography skills,” says Rachita.

UNICEF Ethiopia Representative, Ted Chaiban, says that UNICEF is delighted to offer the workshop to six young talented photographers who have pledged their support for children's rights.

“We hope that the opportunity to work alongside their peers in Ethiopia will give them invaluable insight into the issues faced by children in other countries, as well as offer ways to use their photography to advocate children's rights issues internationally”.

The five other young photographers are from Romania, Morocco, Israel, Brazil and the United States.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20th November 1989 and established a set of fundamental rights for all children and young people that protect them against violence, discrimination and harm. Today, the Convention has been signed by almost every single country, making it the most widely ratified human rights agreement in the world.

Great progress has been made in the past 20 years, including improvements to under-five child mortality and falling numbers of children working in hazardous labour. However, major challenges remain. Between 500 million and 1.5 billion children experience violence annually; 150 million children aged between five and 14 are engaged in child labour and more than 1 million children are detained through justice systems around the world at any one time.